ect of the distribution of the taxes which make up the Budget, is
to buttress and fortify the homes of the people. That is our aim; to
that task we have bent our backs; and in that labour we shall not be
daunted by the machine-made abuse of partisans or by the nervous
clamour of selfish riches. Whatever power may be given to us shall be
used for this object. It is for you to say whether power will be given
us to prevail.

But they say, "This uncertainty about the Budget is causing
unemployment; you are aggravating the evils you seek to remedy." The
Budget has not increased unemployment. Unemployment is severe in the
country this year, but it is less severe this year than it was last,
and it is less severe since the Budget was introduced than before it
was introduced. The proportion of trade unionists reported to be
unemployed in the Board of Trade returns at the end of September was
7.4 per cent., and that is lower than any month since May 1908, and it
compares very favourably with September of last year, when the
proportion was not 7.4, but 9.3 per cent.

I can well believe that the uncertainty as to whether the House of
Lords will, in a desperate attempt to escape their fair share of
public burdens, plunge the country into revolution and its finances
into chaos--I can well believe that that uncertainty is bad for trade
and employment, and is hampering the revival which is beginning all
over the country. I do not doubt that all this talk of the rejection
of the Budget is injurious to business, to credit, and to enterprise;
but who is to blame for that? When did we ever hear of a Budget being
rejected by the Lords before? When did we ever hear of a leader of the
House of Lords proposing, like Lord Lansdowne, to decide whether he
would tear up the British Constitution after consultation with the
leaders of the drink trade? The uncertainty is not due to our action,
but to their threats. Our action has been regular, constitutional,
and necessary. Their threats are violent, unprecedented, and
outrageous. Let them cease their threats. Let one of their
leaders--let Mr. Balfour, for instance, say this year what he said
last year, in the month of October, at Dumfries. Let him say, "It is
the House of Commons and not the House of Lords which settles
uncontrolled our financial system." Let him repeat these words, and
all uncertainty about the Budget will be over.

I am amazed and I am amused when I read in the newspapers the s